What are your experiences with training and other aspects of preparing for triathlon that allowed you to break through and get under an hour? What mileage/yardage did it take in each discipline? Was it consistent improvement or a breakthrough of sorts? I’m mostly looking for what characteristics make up someone able to break an hour in a sprint triathlon/
I find it most helpful to find one with a dead flat bike ride and a poorly measured swim, that’s what got me under an hour at least.
Swim/Bike/Run distances short enough for you to break the hour mark. 250y/12/3.1 w/ 10 yard transitions and 750m/17/3.1 w/ 400 yard transitions are both local sprint distances. 8% of the male field broke the hour mark in the first and the best time of roughly 800 people was 1:11 for the later.
Well I’m talking a legitimate sprint distance of 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run. Finding a short course seems like defeating the purpose of improving.
Strictly a guess and I know you are going to get a whole bunch of: “well it depends” (cause it does) but I would think with a good yr of training:
S:5-10k
B:100mi
R:20-25mi
That would be the minimum I think with a well thought out plan and strictly a guess.
I agree with what the last guy said, ASUMMING that you have a decent base and a bit of experience and do a good bit of that mileage at a pretty quality pace. If you’re newer to the sport or have one weak leg I’d guess you’ll need a bit more mileage than that. I’ve been doing tris for 8 or 9 years and go well under an hour with similar (ok, way less swim mileage as I’m lazy) mileage per week. I’m guessing I would have needed a good 50% more training per week than that to turn an hour time when I first started.
I have done it and (swim was 400m but the bike was over 1.3 miles long) i would argue that you need to swim a fairly high volume to reach the speeds necessary to put down a fast time, 12,000 yards minimum. The bike depends, some people can do a small volume but do just the right amount of intensity and have great sprint and oly splits. If you have a power meter a FTP watts/kg ratio above 3.5, or be able to average over 23mph. Then running, you have to be doing the 5k under 5:55 pace in my opinion. That means if you are on the track doing 800’s x 6 (just for example) you need to be nailing around 2:40 or better to have the leg speed.
I don’t know if there is a secret because i know some people who train 8hours a week and have broken 1hr and i have trained 20hours plus a week and had the same time. Overall a strong base is essential to operate at max intensity for an entire hour. At the begining of my season with little speed work i am always amazed at my sprint times considering my intensity is relatively low during my first few months of hard training.
Thanks for the help so far. Also, I planned on doing the Chicago triathlon as my peaking race, but I have read recently that there are just too many people in order to get fast times there. Do you think going for a fast time at chicago would be an issue? If so, do you know of any sprint races in the end of August in the Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa area?
been close … 1;00;21… swim fast, quick transitions and making sure you do a good warm up!
Pace yourself perfectly:
7 799 S Kenneth Lehner 52 M HOLMDEL NJ 14 7:50 24:27 1:17 10 29:28 23.4 1:05 12 20:22 6:34 59:59 1/59 M50-54 7/762 M
Chicago Athlete and Silent Sports are two “area based” sites that have calendars.
The distances you listed happen to coincide with the typical sprint distance used in the Junior Elite races. The following link will get you to the race results of the Junior Elite National Championships in San Diego last August. The top 14 guys broke the 1 hour mark. It was a westuit swim and about a 50 yard (give or take) run from the water to T1.
http://onlineraceresults.com/...ace_id=15582#racetop
You can use those results to see what it takes (by discipline) to break an hour. With the splits (and paces), you can decide for yourself where you need the most work.
Strictly a guess and I know you are going to get a whole bunch of: “well it depends” (cause it does) but I would think with a good yr of training:
S:5-10k
B:100mi
R:20-25mi
That would be the minimum I think with a well thought out plan and strictly a guess.
you are forgetting the 2 most important parts of a sprint tri…the TRANSITIONS. T1 and T2 excuted correctly can drop 2-4 minutes and give you more momentum.
I completely agree,
The closest I came was 1:03.21 in a 500yd/12mi/5k and lost 2:30 in t1 and 1:00 in t2.
A good swim helps, if you are strong on the bike and the course is fast that is a plus, running comes down if you have the engine.
Just train a lot and be able to do it consistently. People rarely train just for a sprint, the guys going sub 1 hour(I’m assuming 750m, 20k, 5k here?). They are probably putting in pretty solid weeks training for something else.
I’m aiming for sub 1:00 in April, but I have the luxury of it being a 450m pool swim, 10m bike, and 5k run…
If it was not 104 degrees in the the shade that day you might have done did 59:58 :0)
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That is one of those, thank god nothing went wrong (or wronger) during the transitions, kind of times. Congrats.
That is one of those, thank god nothing went wrong (or wronger) during the transitions, kind of times. Congrats.
Thanks, and no kidding! As I was in like the 8th wave or something, the finish line clock was set to the start of the first wave. Approaching the finish line, it was clear that I wasn’t going to break one hour, seeing as I was at a full sprint. I think I crossed at 1:00:01, but the start time for my wave must’ve been a couple of seconds late. Lucky me.
Still, the “break an hour” thing is pretty arbitrary.
Agreed that it is arbitrary, for many, many reasons. I just like the fact you eked under the round number and that it is example 1,000,000 of how every second counts in a wave start, you simply never know whether any particular short amount of time is going to hurt you in the overall (or breaking some arbitrary goal). Example, I missed the old man (i.e., Master’s) podium in one sprint because my frigging right shoe wouldn’t go on. It just didn’t want to go on. And everyone on the board could give a similar example. Just part of the complexity and fun of sprints.
In short races, transitions are HUGE. Look at past results for the races you’re doing and aim to beat the best transition splits (if they list them). Minimize gear. Forget about swimskins or wetsuits. If you’re a guy, consider leaving the tri top off, or using an ITU style suit. If the racks are unassigned, as they usually are in these small races…get there early and get the best transition rack spot. Roll your run number on a race belt and tuck it into your tri shorts…you can untuck and roll it when you get a calm moment on the run.
As for the swim/bike/run…swim hard, but steady. You aren’t going to beat 1hr on the swim but you can hamper your chances if you lollygag. Find a fast pair of feet, if possible. On the bike, just hammer it. Go past your comfort zone. 10-13 miles is super short and not enough to blow your run if you overcook it a bit. On the run, you have to come off the bike in a flying dismount, swap to shoes and start flying. Screw glasses, hat or any other thing. Its only friggin 3.1 miles…no matter where your body is at that point, you can power through that without flailing around with a bunch of comfort doodads like you might have for an IM. And run hard all the way. If you are feeling comfortable, you’re not going hard enough.
Realistically for a 1 hr time if the race is ~550m/13mi/5k (those are about the local Charleston, SC sprint series distances) you’re going to need at least 9:00/31:30/18 depending on total transition time, which will vary of course, depending on the layout. If the specific race distances are longer for your race, you’ll need even more speed than that, of course. None of those times are all that super fast for the distances listed. But they aren’t slow, and they only work if your racing technique (transitions, equipment, etc.) is up to snuff. If you like to picnic in transition…your’e going to have to blaze the actual SBR portions.